The Greater Balance
by Raxychaz
Summary: Dark and Light constantly war, an equalizer must be instated. The powers that be place such a mantle upon a young man who is sure his way is the right way and that jumping the gun like a few of these folks do is just a little bit stupid. Whatever happened to a decent conversation before breaking a fellas spine?
1. Chapter 1

**[For the Viewers Benefit]**

" **Big boys.** "

"Normal Boys."

' _The thinking boys._ '

" _Magic speakin' boys._ "

" _A heart is one's truest weapon…_ "

The first thing a pajama clad youth noticed was how cold his feet suddenly were, and how bright it was outside his eyelids, blearily opening a pair of deep amethyst eyes he immediately shut them.

Rolling across a giant stained glass floor the youth groaned as the pain hit his eyes, from a birds eye veiw it was a beautiful piece depicting a summer afternoon, a mountain range and forest in the background with two tall figures in the foreground, one man and one woman, with their arms around each other's shoulders.

Returning to the host of this dream we find a fair skinned young man, perhaps just entering his 20th year, he had shaggy black hair that stuck in any which-way direction given its bedhead state, and three slim lines running from his jawline to his cheekbones on each side of his face.

Pulling himself into a sitting position he looked around with a squinted gaze, brushing his hair back with a hand and frowning, "Goddamn…" muttered the young man as he forced himself to stand, regardless of how tired he was.

"Why does weird shit keep happening to me?" Weird shit indeed, for this was not the first time our protagonist has come upon such situation, but that is a story for later.

" _Fear not, child. Take your time… and choose your path._ " Three pillars sprouted from shafts of light, atop each pillar was an item.

The first, was a shield, something admittedly he didn't see often in his line of work, a dark red kiteshield with an oddly stylized heart on the face.

The second was a sword, though unlike any he'd really seen before, in place of a single edge it had two edges and a horizontal guard, it was roughly 1 metre in length, give or take some, and bore a similar stylized heart on the pommel.

Finally was what could only be described as a wand, the same heart rested atop a small wooden shaft, wrapped in fine looking leather.

" _Follow your heart…_ "

"Right, sure. I'll have to remember to not drop acid with Kakashi again." Rumbled the youth as he strode towards the sword and grasped it firmly, the weapon itself seemed to come alive for a moment as he felt energy flow from it into him and vice versa.

" _As one chooses, one must also give up… what would you sacrifice for offence?_ "

The remaining two pillars shot towards the middle and stood roughly a foot apart.

"Here's an idea, Menma. Why don't you go out with Kakashi for your twentieth! It'll be great, since I've got a meeting tomorrow I can't exactly show up with a hangover, but he's on holiday for the moment!" Menma mocked his father's words with a frown, "Bah, never again I say, never!"

As the youth animatedly talked to himself Menma shooed the wand away, seeing no real use in it. It banished itself in a shower of sparkles, _ugh_ , and Menma heard the random voice speak once more.

" _Equip as you are, now you must take your first steps._ " Three black blobs began to grow across the stained glass floor three small impish creatures with misshapen antennae appeared from the blobs, they each had a pair of large yellow eyes and small twitching hands.

"Now that's just adorable." Menma admitted to himself shamelessly, a grin on his face as he sat on his calves and held out a hand to the nearest creature, "C'mere buddy, who's a cute lil' fella, you are."

Each of the small creatures wobbled forward, the first to reach his hand bumped at the appendage with its face before nibbling at one of his digits, "Heh, friendly lil guys aren'tcha?"

The other two Shadows, sensing the lack of danger apparently, sidled up against the youth as he sat with his legs crossed and pat them interchangeably.

" _The Heartless are creatures of the Darkness they hunger for hearts._ "

"Yeah whatever, these lil guys ain't so bad." Menma waved off dismissively, one of them hopped on his back and crawled to sit on his shoulders, grinning to himself he grabbed the last two and carried them in one hand whilst holding the sword with his other, "C'mon lil fellas, you're comin' with me."

 **[Drive Unlocked; Anti-Form]**

Passing through a door Menma noted his little friends didn't appear to have traveled with him, frowning he looked back to the door only to see it sink into the platform.

From a birdseye view this platform showed a rendition of himself sitting on a throne, a storm of white and greys spiralling below his feet and a swathe of dark clouds above him, the in the piece though, he looked quite content.

Menma however looked a little ruffled, "Oi, this is my weird acid-trip dream, gimmie back the small guys." As though called through some eldritch ritual six eyes opened in the shadow cast by the youth, his frown was slowly replaced as he looked at the six golden orbs, little antennae poking up from the shadow.

"Alright compromise it is."

" _One must always be ready to fight the Darkness, in all of its forms_." Sleek creatures of with an almost metallic sheen to their skin appeared in twisting brambles of white and grey, the creatures bounced idly from one of their long slim legs to another, their hands were bound in black bands, their heads had long zippers across their 'faces'.

One of the two creature twitched angrily as its zipper drew open, revealing a matte black orb within its 'mouth' a zig-zag pattern across the centre of this orb, making it look something akin to a teeth-line.

"Huh… funky." Menma commented, one of the two creatures - the one whom had yet to move beyond its idle bouncing - seemingly stared directly at him. The one whom had released its zipper lunged at Menma, he thrust a palm forward, striking it and seemingly dazing it. "STOP!" His booming voice echoed across the dreamscape.

The creature leaned back in on itself, "The hell you think you're doin' boy!? Hmm! Spazzing out like that, have some fuckin' respect!" The creature seemingly melted in on itself and lost all rigidity, Menma blinked for a moment as another swathe of white and grey brambles swept across the creatures limp body.

When it dissipated Menma was even more surprised to see that the creature was seemingly turned into clothes.

Menma staked his sword into the ground and picked up the Dusk's remains, it left behind a long jacket with a thick zipper, a symbol just like the one on the creature's head dangling as the zip-grip.

Menma pulled the jacket on over his light blue t-shirt and felt it tighten and loosen around his body, digging through the pile a pair of gloves with the same black bands around the fingers fit snugly over his hands, though he still retained full movement in his fingers.

He swapped out his pyjama pants for the long metallic silver trousers that hung baggily around his ankle, a belt seemingly sprouted from nowhere and clipped around his waist.

He did this all whilst the other Dusk bounced idly and stared at him.

Menma pat down his new jacket and smiled, it fit like a dream. Going down only to elbows but falling to his knees in length, obviously he didn't zip it up as that would be stupid given the current climate of the situation but as far as dreamed up outfits went this was pretty good stuff.

"Oi, you." Menma said, pointing at the remaining Dusk, "You're comin' with me." The creature slinked after him as he strode past it, his bare feet still annoyingly cold against this floor, a long staircase was his next foe, this time though several dozen Dusks and Shadows began to pour of out seemingly the air.

"Alright… I guess talking is over?" Menma readied his blade and let out a slow breath, "Not the same model I'm used to but it'll do." Slowly and methodically he moved the blade in a circular motion, after images began to blur against his movement he held the sword horizontally and then, in seemingly one step, moved through the entire staircase each Shadow and Dusk popping into the abyss they crawled from seconds later.

The friendly Dusk launched itself against his jacket and seemingly melted into it, giving it a hood and scarf, the upper half of the Dusk's skull became the hood whilst it's body went limp and almost fused into one long length of cloth.

The Shadow's in his actual shadow still blinked in sync whenever he deigned to look at them.

" _As you see, not all problems can be solved with words or commands._ "

"Or by making them into clothes." Supplied the young adult with a chuckle, the final stage was completely blank, as though it had yet to be made.

" _Go onwards, Scion of Twilight. Be the bridge between the worlds and their clashing ideals. Take your throne in the calamitous mid-way point._ "

"This is a really intricate dream." Menma admitted to himself, "Sure, I accept or… whatever."

" _Fantastic. It is done, we look forward to your accomplishments. Awaken Scion, for the worlds require a shepard, this shall be a test. Shall Light succeed? Shall Darkness? Or will it be the Balance?_ "

Menma felt weightless all of a sudden as the floor beneath him slowly began to fill in as his view blanketed in, light and then darkness as his consciousness returned to his physical body.

 **Keyblade Graveyard**

Menma awoke with a start, as he did he was immediately greeted with what could only be described as a wasteland, he sat up and groaned. "You know when a dream ends, that's supposed to be just it, the ending." He dragged himself up and noticed his feet weren't as cold.

"Oh neato, sneakers." He noted with a hum, the same silver-grey as his other clothes. "Gotta say, scarring that Dusk into a pile of clothes was a good idea."

Standing up Menma looked around, key shaped swords as far as the eye could see, "Sweet mother of me…" Muttered the young adult.

He looked around and approached one line-up, pulling a random key out of the ground and feeling it in his hands, it felt… dead. For lack of a better word, typically one wouldn't associate life with a weapon, but these items felt especially void of existence.

Menma tossed the key over his shoulder and looked for another, this time a long sleek silver key, the same result, he frown and ran a hand over the blade, inspecting it with a more critical eye, it had chips and cracks across its entire being, he swung it and it fell apart in his hands.

"Hmm…" Menma walked up and down through what appeared to be some mass gravesite and fiddled with or bothered one key or another.

"Is this just a wasteland?" As those words left his lips Menma felt a presence, he turned and saw his Shadows pour out of the one he cast and nibble at the blades, Menma knelt down and rubbed the head of one.

"Who are you to disturb this place?" Questioned a voice, Menma looked up to see a man in a long black coat, two silver draw-chains hanging down to his ribs, a hood disguising his person.

"I was brought here." Menma answered simply, "Don't worry though, I'm pretty sure I'll wake up soon."

"Wake up?" Questioned the man with a cocked head.

"Yeah, I mean I gotta give myself credit I'm way more creative than I assumed." Menma stood up and grabbed a random key the man's hand twitched as he did, and held it skyward, "These are pretty detailed."

"You think this is some kind of dream?" Questioned the man once more.

"Well yeah…" Menma turned to the man with a quirked brow, "I have a trio of lil' shadow ants, I have Dusks as clothes… and there are key-swords littered everywhere. This has gotta be a dream."

The man seemed to consider this for a moment, "How odd you are…" Observed the man.

"Yeah well this'll teach me do drugs, don't do 'em kids." Menma pointed at the Shadows who seemingly nodded in understanding before sinking back into the ground, Menma shouldered the large bandaged keyblade onto his shoulder and approached the man.

"What's your name?" Questioned the cloak wearer.

"Uzumaki Menma, eldest son of Uzumaki Minato and Kushina." Menma informed with a slight tilt of his head, he stood perhaps two or so metres away from the slightly shorter male, "And you are?"

"You may call me, Ansem." Informed the now named man with his own slight bow.

"Well, Ansem. If this isn't a dream, where am I?" Menma questioned.

"You are in a world called the Keyblade Graveyard, many years ago there was a great war between wielders of the Light and the Dark, nowadays there are few Keyblade Wielders left to push back the Dark. It would seem you are one such person, touched by Darkness." Answer informed, though his shoulders seemed tense as he spoke of the dark.

"Hmm? You mean the Shadows? I just didn't kill 'em is all, they're cute little things, felt bad." Menma admitted with a shrug, "I'm a grown ass man and I still don't like killin' cute stuff. Gotta work on it."

"You enjoy killing?" Ansem asked with a slight edge to his voice.

"Huh? Nah-nah, but it's my job. Lemme guess you've never heard of a place called the Elemental Nations?" Ansem shook his head so Menma continued, "Well that's where I'm from, people are either your average joe shmoe, and then you've got the people like me Shinobi, we're basically glorified mercenaries who run around spitting fire and controlling the tides. Most people would blow smoke up your ass about how great and just their village is but in reality everyone's the same, trying to get an edge over someone else with dirty tactics."

"It would seem you are not fond of your homeworld." Ansem suggested idly.

"Not so much, I just get… I dunno, bored?" Menma asked, more rhetorically than anything else, "I just feel like there's more to life then runnin' about doin' missions and getting paid. I don't really bother with people nowadays, my little brother thinks I'm being weird about it but in reality most of them end up dying so why bother investing in 'em?"

"That's a very… morose outlook." Ansem commented.

"Yeah well waddaya gonna do? Life begins just like it ends, I won't chew your ear off anymore though. You piqued my interest with 'other words', what kind?" Menma leant forward slightly, a simple tell that he was curious.

"Too many to list, too different to explain. It's more of a 'see and experience' sort of thing." Ansem informed, Menma nodded though he did have a slight frown on his face, "That being said… one touched by the Darkness such as you _should_ be able to traverse various worlds with little issue."

"Oh really? How's that?" Menma was going to prod more but a book was thrown his way, dropping the Keyblade and grabbing it he looked it over, ' _A Guide to the Dark Corridor_ ' the book was quite thick, you could probably crack someone's skull with it.

"Before you're allowed to traverse worlds though, you'll have to prove you've the stomach." Menma had to leap backwards as Ansem leapt at him a wing-shaped blade staking into the ground where the Shinobi once stood.

"What the heck are you on!?" Snarled the Uzumaki with a scowl, "What kind of fuckin' random bullshit are you spouting? First you throw a random book at me, and then attack me?"

"I'm trying to confirm a hunch." Ansem said simply, as though that made it all better.

Menma frowned, "Fuckin' keys everywhere ya dickhead." Menma rolled to his left and grabbed a junk-keyblade he parried Ansem's attack and rammed his shoulder into the man's stomach, "This is now how adults handle situations!"

Menma dug his heel in and spun, his keyblade found purchase in the cloaked man's side though in a flicker of movement Ansem managed to right himself and kick the Shinobi in the jaw making him stumble, Menma slammed a hand into the ground and soared into the air he threw the junk-key at the other man with a snarl.

Ansem parried the thrown weapon and tossed it aside, his foe landed softly on the ground, "This is ridiculous, fight with your Keyblade, Menma!" Ansem demanded.

"Literally how?" Menma questioned, "I dunno what I'm doing, I dunno why you're suddenly attacking me, but I'll tell you this… you pissed me off." Menma threw his whole body towards Ansem his hands sparking with energy, the man merely held out a palm as a glassy barrier formed in front of him, Menma's hands touched the barrier and he was immediately sent flying several dozen metres, he landed with a roll and a skin, his body battered and bruised from the rather serious fall.

"Something definitely broke…" He barely managed to get out as his breath was slowly coming back to him, his arms felt like they'd been slammed in an industrial press. His shadow seemed to extend for a moment golden eyes looked up at him before a mass seemed to emerge from within.

A black Keyblade-esque weapon grew from the darkness of his shadow, it had the tell-tale signs of being such a weapon but just seemed a little, lesser. The weapon itself seemed to be missing half directly down the centre.

It's guard was half of a fleur de lis, whilst the grip was covered in a soft dark red foam of some kind. It lacked a keychain unfortunately, but it'd do for now.

Menma grabbed the weapon and slowly dragged himself up into a standing position, "So, you can push my attacks back at me?"

"It's a rather simple thing to do once you know how." Admitted Ansem with a nod, "It seems you drew your Keyblade from the dark…"

"I guess my little pals didn't take kindly to you tossin' me about." Menma offered with a shrug as he shouldered the weapon,

"Tell me, say you got around to different worlds. What would you do?"

"Look around and see what they're like." Menma answered truthfully, before frowning, "You know typically people ask questions like that _before_ they get all trigger happy and try to kill someone."

"I wasn't trying to kill you." Ansem defended lightly, "I was trying to see if you had what it took to draw your weapon… though it seems you were _given_ one instead."

"You didn't even bother to explain _how_ to draw one, ya dink." Menma scolded with a neutral expression.

Ansem seemed to still for a moment before he nodded, whether to himself or to Menma the black haired man didn't know, "I suppose so, you need to look into yourself, once you feel a… tugging you'll know what to do."

"Are you a teacher?" Menma asked abruptly.

"No. Why?"

"Don't be."

Closing his eyes Menma didn't see Ansem's reaction but quieted himself, he looked inward and felt something odd, he felt like he was getting… weaker? Lethargic even. Like something was sapping his energy, he tried to follow this sensation and felt something pressing against his chest, outwardly he gripped his jacket and a small well of light began to gather under his palm.

Inwardly he saw a vast tunnel of light within himself and stuck his hand directly into it.

Ansem saw the black haired man grimace for a moment before drawing a silver keyblade from his chest, it was much like the black one, though it seemed to be the other half. This half had the teeth, an ankh acted as the teeth of the keyblade the tail of the symbol directed to the fleur de lis guard.

The Keychain unfurled as the keyblade came to life in its master's hands, a manji swung from the base of the Keyblade, Menma seemed to catch on to what had occurred before Ansem did and spun both parts in between his fingers before slamming them together, a great explosion of black and white energy grey from the black haired man.

Ansem shielded his eyes as the influx of light made them sting.

When the fiasco died down Menma was revealed.

His previous long jacket now only went down his ribs and left his now black t-shirt to cover most of his torso alone. He baggy jeans now fell into a pair of silver plated boots, his gloves now were more akin to gauntlets with pale blue gems planted firmly over the back of his hands.

His hood and scarf remained the same for the most part, though the Nobody sigil at the top was seemingly scrubbed away leaving a twist of black and white in its place.

As a whole Menma's keyblade was far wider from edge to edge, at about 20 cm from edge to edge and now flattened substantially, the symbols remained in stack but now it appeared to be more swordlike, he looked at the weapon for a moment and muttered.

"Harmony…" like a father seeing his child for the first time.

Menma gave the weapon a few experimental spins before resting it on his shoulder and grinning, "So, how do I look?"

"Like a future Keyblade Master." Ansem said, an odd note of nostalgia to his voice, "I believe it best to leave you with an acquaintance of mine for the time being… he can help you master this craft."

"You are sending me so many mixed messages, Ansem." Menma said with a frown, tapping his keyblade against his shoulder, "You do know I'm a grown ass man, I don't need to be babied? You can actually _talk_ to me in place of trying to, 'force me into drawing out my power'."

Ansem had the gall to chuckle at that, "I'll keep it in mind."

"Seriously though, that's nice and all but I'm goin' home for the time being. I can't just run out and leave everyone wondering where I am."

"That's fair." Ansem acquiesced, "To return home, merely think on it, envision it and call out to the darkness, it will guide you."

Menma did just that before snapping his fingers and envisioning his bedroom, a large black vortex opened before him, Ansem paused for a moment before commenting, "You're taking to this quite well…"

"I've spent a majority of my life playin' around with energy, Ansem. I know what I'm doing." And with that, Menma stepped through the Dark Corridor and disappeared.

Ansem frowned beneath his hood, "He didn't even tell me how to find him, some adult."

 **Definitely Not Konohagakure**

Menma stepped out of the Dark Corridor and onto… a beach, in the middle of the night.

"Oh for fucks sake." Muttered the man as he palmed his face, his Keyblade disappearing in a flash of black and white, as it was no longer needed.

With a sigh he placed his fists on his hips and took in the area, "Hmm… no discernible landmarks or anything. It's too dark to really make much out anyway." Even the sand looked dark.

"Hello!" He called out, his voice carrying on a soft wind, Menma frowned at the eerie silence, he called up his Shadows the trio leapt to serve, "Spread out and see if you can find anything." The shadows nodded before seemingly splitting, the now-six units spread off in every direction available.

"Not even gonna question it." Menma said to himself as he crossed his arms, his face set into a facade of calm as he looked across the moonlit waters, "This place… it's like pure serenity."

"That's certainly one way of saying it." Admitted a voice, Menma turned to see a young woman with pale blue hair and positively sparkling blue eyes, Menma felt his breath steal away from him as he looked upon her, almost angelic in appearance.

She wore a bodysuit/leotard with shorts and skirt combo a pair of detached sleeves covering her forearms, armour-like bands holding said sleeves in place. Her skirt fell to her knees it was parted around her front, leaving her legs exposed but also mobile, she had thigh-high black socks on, and plated boots.

Menma was so enraptured with her gaze that he lost all higher brain function, he was literally lost in her eyes.

"Are you alright?" Oh gods above they sparkled like precious sapphires! What in the hell was happening, his heart was beating like a jackhammer and he could hear the blood in his veins singing.

He opened his mouth to speak and failed spectacularly a few times before managing to reboot and woodenly offered his hand, "M-Menma! Nice to meet you." Why was he yelling!? He was totally blowing it, goddamn!

She actually smiled and laughed lightly to herself, a pleasant as wind chimes, "It's nice to meet you too, Menma. My name is Aqua… so what brings you to the End of Sea?"

"Apt name I suppose…" Menma muttered to himself, rapidly finding his composure, "Corridor accident it seems, I was talkin' to some fella named Ansem in the… Keyblade Graveyard-" He noticed Aqua's eyes immediately spring open fully at that and almost lost track of his thoughts again, "-Anyway Ansem and I have a quick talk before he tosses this-"

Menma produced his newly acquired guidebook on Dark Corridors and waves it about for a moment before tucking it back into his jacket, Aqua seemed to be absolutely hooked on this conversation.

"Afterwards he forces a tussle in order to draw _this_ -" He produces Harmony garnering a few owlish blinks, "-And then sends me on my way, now I was supposed to go home. But apparently this bugger of a thing is a little trickier than I imagined."

Aqua tried to form words, looking much like he did a few moments ago before shaking her head, "That's one of the strangest awakenings I've heard about."

"Not even the strangest part." Menma admitted.

Aqua cocked a single blue brow at this, "Really?" She questioned, nay challenged!

Menma felt a smile grow across his face, something Aqua quickly mirrored, "Well I'll tell you all about it while I figure out how this thing works, then how about… lunch, on me?"

Aqua seemed to breath out a all of her muscles relaxed, it was now he noticed the heavy bags under her eyes, "That'd be really nice…" She looked out to the waters and frown softly, "I've been here… a while."

 **End.**

 **If you liked it lemme know. If you didn't, tough shit. If you wanna see more or have any suggestion for worlds and places to visit, make sure to pop 'em in the reviews or send me a PM.**

 **Also, before anyone asks about pairings or stuff like that. Don't get your hopes up, I kinda just let the story play out as I type. I'm less a direct writer and more a conduit. That being said, I think a lot of people can agree Aqua is pretty fakkin' great.**

 _ **Raxychaz!**_

 **Keyblade Symbolism; to get ahead of comments.**

 **Manji; typically associated with spiritual harmony and the alignments of the forces of nature; eg. Light and Dark.**

 **Fleur de Lis; Associated with royalty but also to perfection light and life.**

 **Ankh; used in ancient egypt as a symbol of life.**

 **All in all the Keyblade is supposed to represent the duality of Light and Dark whilst also presenting it as a new way of life, thus why it is called 'Harmony'.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Just to note, people in Kingdom Hearts express friendship in a very different way when compared to most mediums, just keep that in mind as things progress.**

 **Also this takes place a tiny bit before KH2, I'm not gonna bother trying to tie everything that happened in between 1 and 2 together into this because I really just don't have the time to play every single game** _ **before**_ **writing up this chapter.**

 **Forgive me hardcore KH Fans, I love the series, but not** _ **that**_ **goddamn much.**

 **Konoha; Menma's Apartment.**

"...And that's how I ended up in near the Realm of Darkness…" Aqua finished quietly, sipping at her third refill of tea, Menma empathized with her sorrow he'd seen friends come and go over the years, but to have it all masterminded by some psychotic old man was a whole different kind of pain.

"That is… well I don't exactly have the words for it." Menma admitted solemnly.

Aqua nodded to herself, "It's all I've been thinking about since I was trapped."

Menma grimaced, "I can only imagine."

"I'd rather you didn't try, the darkness should stay where it is." She aimed a meaningful glance at the hextuplet shadows roaming about the apartment. "The fact they're so calm… worries me."

"Why?" Menma felt that they were perfectly tame, they didn't even both Aqua and she was basically pure light when compared to either him or his little pals.

"They're pure darkness, the only time they should be this calm is inside their own realm. The fact they are… speaks of you."

"Maybe it's my calming and erudite presence?" Menma offered, a small smirk on his face, Aqua shook her head, her face still set into a look of concentration. "Look, like I said earlier the weird voice in what I assumed to be some _really strange_ dream said stuff about keeping the balance, 'Scion of Twilight take your throne amidst the calamitous middle.' Or something along those lines."

"Scion of Twilight…" Aqua muttered, trying to flip through her mental index of Keyblade lore.

"That's what I was told." Menma affirmed, "Anywhere you know where we could… I dunno research something like that?"

"The only place I'd suggest would be my home but… I know a few other people who may be able to help." Aqua's expression brightened by just a few shades, "Does this mean we have to skip out on lunch?"

Menma's face flushed a little red at his tunnel-vision, "I'll get right on it." He leapt to his feet and ran into the kitchen.

"Too easy." Aqua guiltily enjoyed being waited on, it wasn't something she'd allow to be a regular thing but she'd indulge just this once, her new friend was a little scatterbrained at times but he had a good heart, she could feel it. He may not have a vessel of pure light, but he was certainly all good.

Menma tied his hair back into a loose ponytail and slid on an apron before grinning to himself, a little time management was in order, " _ **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.**_ "

A flush of smoke filled the kitchen only for nothing to follow Menma's command, he looked around confused for a moment he summoned Harmony and stared at the Keyblade. "What did you do to me…" He demanded ominously, his face shadowed as his eyes glowed brightly beneath his fringe.

The hextuplets melted into the ground at their master's command and dove into his shadow, as they did a singular entity rose from it, a large barrel chested creature with a physique of an adonis and wild tendrils in place of hair, its chest was covered by glowing silver chains, it cracked all four of its knuckles and placed one pair of arms onto Menma's shoulders, garnering his attention.

" _AHHHHHH!_ "

 **Twenty Minutes Later**

After that debacle, Menma and his apparent Guardian had managed to cobble together a small banquet of omelettes, rice and steak.

Aqua's eyes glittered at the food before she dove in like a starved animal, Guardian looked at its master, as though searching for approval, Menma chuckled and rand a hand through his hair, as he did so pulling his hair tie loose.

"I think she likes it." Guardian crossed all of its arms before disappearing into his shadow, Menma took off his apron and set it across his lap as he sat down and enjoyed the fruits of his labor.

"Oh no, VEN!" And like that, the tranquility was shot in the head like an aggressive seal-pup. Menma nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden noise.

"Ok maybe don't just scream suddenly…" Menma requested, his ears blaring as he shook his head to knock away the ringing. "What's goin' on Aqua?"

"V-Ven, I have to check on him. I don't know how long it's been but I have to find out if he's still save, you've gotta take me there. _Please!_ " She almost leapt over the table and grabbed him by the collar forcing his gaze to meet hers.

Were it not for the intensity of her stare Menma may very well have gotten lost in it again but brought his mind back under control and nodded, he stood up and cracked his neck, Aqua retreated back to her side, "Are you satiated?"

"What?" Aqua questioned, like that was the randomest thing he could ask.

"Are you full? If we go running off to who-knows-where and we're not prepared our bodies'll fail us." Menma said simply, "I'll open the gate but you gotta be _certain_ you're ready to go _this second_."

Aqua took a breath and stood up, she summoned her Master's Keyblade and nodded, "I'm ready."

"Alrighty then, same as last time, come stand over with me." She quickly went to his side and Menma placed one hand onto her shoulder and held up his hand, "What's it called?"

"The Chamber of Waking." Menma nodded and steeled his expression, feeling the light and the dark dancing underneath his skin.

" _ **The Chamber of Waking!**_ " An image flashed in Aqua's mind, their destination perfectly memorized, Menma's command forced a doorway open, this doorway was no simple Dark Corridor it was a Twilight Passage. A low sunset-esque film overtook the wall Menma was pointing at and opened much like an actual door, as the duo stepped through their vision was temporarily discoloured.

 **Chamber of Waking; Castle Oblivion**

A white, circular chamber opened up before them as the Twilight Passage closed behind the duo, Menma wiped a bead of sweat of his forehead the stress on his body due to its newly acquired powers was a little more substantial than he was comfortable with.

Aqua immediately darted to the centre of the room, "Ven…" She whispered softly, a boy was asleep on a raised altar of some sort, Menma chewed the inside of his lip, feeling slightly foolish for trying to worm his way into this girl's heart when it was _very_ clear she had other people to worry about.

' _Well now I just feel like quite the ass'_ A soft sigh left the shinobi's lips as he shouldered Harmony, ' _Ah well, worth a shot I suppose. Gonna be a gutwrencher seeing such a gorgeous girl on some other guy's arm._ ' Call him shallow, but Menma _was_ very enchanted by Aqua's looks.

"He's alright…" She informed him gently, a smile on her face as her eyes shimmered, she quickly picked him up and carried him back towards the tall male, "We should leave before someone notices us."

"Why would anyone notice, I thought this'd be a pretty secure location." Menma questioned in confusion.

"It's just this… feeling I have. I can't really explain it but I feel like we're in danger." Aqua's unease was simple to pick up on, Menma tried to feel out the area but nothing was really coming to him and that made him frown, he gestured to the wall once more and took Aqua's shoulder.

"Oh my, running so soon?" Questioned a voice, masculine and powerful.

Aqua's skin seemed to dance as this person spoke, Menma turned to see a tall man in a black coat, his skin was healthily tanned whilst his golden eyes and silver hair contrasted each other nicely.

"Terra…" Aqua mumbled out with an almost visible shake to her body.

"Hmm… it _has_ been quite a while, Master Aqua. Have you missed your friends so much, as to risk a new one?" The man said with a small, faked, smile.

"No… Xehanort! Release Terra this second or-"

"Or what? You'll flail helplessly into the Realm of Darkness once more, sacrifice another suit of priceless armour? Perhaps you'll send your new acquaintance into the abyss in your place, for all the good it did you the first time." There was an almost pleasured expression on Xehanort's face as he tore right into Aqua's heart.

Menma frowned and rumbled, " _ **K**_ _o_ **n** _ **o**_ h _a._ " The portal tore open as Menma savagely pushed the blue haired girl and her comatose friend through the door, "Take him to my father, Minato." And with that the door shut firmly behind them.

"Oh my, that was quite bold of you." Menma stepped towards the man who remained uninterested, mostly his gaze was at the wall the two Keybladers had vanished into.

"Who are you?" Menma demanded, tapping Harmony against his shoulder, "I can't even sense you, and that's pissin' me off."

"How quaint." Xehanort said with a chuckle, "I am Xemnas, master of Organisation 13. A collection of Nobodies who seek to regain our hearts."

"Bullshit. What're you really after?" Menma pressed his Keyblade against the man's chest and narrowed his gaze dangerously, the Keyblade wavered for a moment before it's coloured became inverted, Discord was almost _growling_ in his mind, hungry for this man's essence.

"What a curious Keyblade…" Xemnas observed with an acute gaze, "But there is no lie we-" Menma staked the blade through the man's torso cutting him off.

"I can _hear_ your lying heartbeat from here." Menma's eyes bled a deep raging gold colour, a fury he wasn't aware of ignited in his breast as his Guardian rose to grapple the man before him, Xemnas' eyes widened in shock before a grin overcame him, as Discord chewed on his essence Menma felt a deep sickness rise in his gut he stumbled back as his blade and Guardian remained in place.

"Nothingness, a harsh concept for you humans to grasp…" Xemnas managed to gloat even with a giant Keyblade in his chest, Discord refused to cease its devouring, leaving a massive hole in the man's chest before it winked out of existence.

"Wh-What the fuck…" Menma coughed as a sudden wetness filled his mouth he spat it out, "What are you?"

"Ah, the essence of Nobody is not truly meant to meld with a human body… run along boy, and return when the test is complete."

Menma's Guardian roared at the man and delivered a punch so devastating he was sent through the wall and out into the great abyss below.

Menma slapped his hand on the ground and demanded his body to stand, he spat whatever was in his mouth and was more than a little off-put by the milky-white paste that left his lips.

"This is just… suspect." Menma shook his head, "Why did I do that? I'm not usually that rash…" He sighed and figured it was just that his nerves were frayed to hell given all that had happened within the last few hours.

"I'll just go home, and relax. It'll be fine."

 **Konoha; Menma's Apartment.**

Bedlam.

It was complete and utter chaos, the ANBU were crawling all over the place, his Father was here, Aqua and Ventus were being confined to a corner as one of the masked assassin's questioned them.

A man with short blond hair and dark blue eyes inspected the apartment with a critical gaze, his face pulled into a small frown that reflected against the three scars over the right of his jaw, he was donned in a long white coak with flames dancing upon the bottom, a dark green flak jacket and other such shinobi essentials, all in all Uzumaki Minato looked about ready to kill somebody.

"What in the name of all that is mildly adequate is going on here!?"

All eyes immediately turned to him, his father quickly making his way over and taking hold of his jaw, inspecting him thoroughly before releasing him and patting him on the shoulder, "You nearly gave me a damn heart attack." Minato said with a thick sigh, he squeezed his son's shoulder as a small smile came to his face.

"How and why I was gone for maybe five minutes?" Menma questioned before looking over Minato's shoulder he gently pushed past his old man and shooed away the ANBU, "Get away from them, goddamn busybodies."

Menma knelt before Aqua as she cradled a still unconscious Ventus, "How is he?"

"Same as before, but at least he's away from them… I had no idea Xehanort had found Ven's hideaway." She said quietly, "What's going to happen now?" Referring to the rather tense situation she was pushed into.

"The how is simple, you disappear from the sensory grid in the middle of the night, then pop back up. Fair enough, perhaps you were having an especially deep sleep and just weren't emitting enough Chakra to be registered, then it doesn't pick back up later through the day, I get a little worried. These 'busybodies' reported you weren't home and had seemingly disappeared, _then_ you pop back up out of the _wall_ with some outsider who _also_ doesn't register on the sensory grid." Minato paced idly back and forth as he spoke to his progeny, Menma sighed at being lectured _yet again_ over something minor.

"You're back for perhaps twenty minutes, in the space of that time I get reports of small creatures appearing out of your shadow, and then a much larger - what I thought initially was a summon - creature do the same. Suddenly this young lady yells something and off you go once more _into the wall_. She appears - alone mind you - with an unconscious boy and you return a few minutes later visibly strained and with how your pupils are dilated at the moment, incredibly stressed. So tell me, Menma…" Minato ceased his pacing and placed his hands behind his back, standing with his back straight and his piercing blue eyes staring directly into his son's dark purple.

"What is going on?"

"That is… a lot trickier to explain in a short conversation than you'd like." Menma admitted with a lopsided frown, Minato was about to speak once more but his son cut him off, "That being said, I'll explain it, but Ventus here needs to be seen to, once he's hooked up to an IV and is getting a check-up I'll spill my guts and explain _everything_."

"Are you offering the Hokage an ultimatum, young man?" Minato asked dangerously.

"No, I'm asking my father to take five minutes to help me make sure someone is safe while I let him know what's going on." Menma stood to meet Minato's eyes, even at a crisp Thirty-Eight the man a dangerous beast to be sure.

"Understandable. ANBU take this young man to the hospital and see to it he gets the treatment he needs, Menma you and the girl are coming with me." Minato ordered.

"What? No! I'm not letting him out of my sight!" Aqua defiantly shook her head as she held Ven closer to her.

"Look Miss. You don't really have much room to argue right now, you can either give us the boy and we'll make sure he's okay, or we can put you both in a holding cell and wait until he expires." Minato said simply, Aqua looked to Menma for some kind of aid but he just looked at her in confusion.

"He's not goin' anywhere far, Aqua. It's not like they'll slit his throat or anything." Menma shrugged, "You can go see him after we report."

"Why can't _you_ just got and _I'll_ stay with Ven." She tried to argue.

"Because you're a rogue element and I'm not letting you roll around unsupervised and my ANBU have better things to do than sit around in a hospital watching over a pair of unknowns. Release the boy or things will escalate." Minato's expression was gradually getting stormier.

"Aqua please, trust me everything will be fine." Menma assured.

"How can I trust you with him! He's important to me and I _just_ got out of the Realm of Darkness I won't leave him!" Aqua stood and drew her Keyblade the ANBU all drew their own weapons, Minato looked to Menma and nodded to him, the black haired man sighed before stepping forward.

"Aqua, you are blowing things way out of proportion. This would already be over and done with if you'd just see reason and trust me."

"The last time trust was an issue Xehanort destroyed everything I ever loved." Aqua bit back with more bitterness than was expected.

Menma sighed into the palm of his hand, "Alright, hard way it is." His Guardian's arms rose up from under Ven and dragged him into Menma's shadow before the giant creature appeared, cradling the younger male like one would a small pet.

"VEN!"

"Aqua for fucks sake calm down!" Menma bellowed, his eyes flashing a stormy saffron, "Calm the fuck down before they kill you!" Aqua looked at him, like a dagger was in her heart, "This is a _military state_ you don't get to just flaunt the rules because you're not from here! Now shut the fuck up and come with me or so help me god this apartment is going to be smeared with someone's blood!"

He took Ventus and deposited him into the nearest operatives arms, the look of absolute betrayal on Aqua's face actually did more to foulen his mood then make him sympathise, he just couldn't fathom why she was so against Ventus getting treatment, or the fact that no ill would befall him.

"Get 'im to a bed quickly." He ordered gently as the man disappeared Minato walked forward and leant into his ear.

"She's hysterical, we're not going to get anything out of her. How do you think a Yamanaka will go down?" Information was key and he knew next to nothing about the woman before him, or her strange weapon.

"If it'll work on someone without a chakra network I'd say yes, if all else fails spike the tea." With the look Minato got from his son he also gave consent to be submitted to such a thing, with a nod he gestured the woman forward.

"Come along, we'll be going to my office now."

 **Hokage's Office**

Menma sat a chair with a rigid back as he gave his report ignoring the kicked puppy looks he was getting from Aqua the whole time, he expected more bite in her gaze but it appeared, upon further thinking, she may have actually become afflicted with PTSD over the events that befell her and seeing Ventus once more re-awakened old wounds that never got to truly heal.

Whilst he felt remorse for his tact, he did not in fact regret his actions in any way. If anything he regretted collecting Ventus, he would have much preferred if Aqua was allowed some time to properly heal before facing old demons once more.

Seeing both Ventus, and Terra-Xemnas in one short encounter must have resonated deeply with her wounded heart, and him shouting her down wasn't anything helpful.

Minato was currently re-running over a few of the bigger points of the report, mostly due to how far-fetched it all sounded.

"So this boy you brought here, this… Ventus. He's comatose because of… 'Sharing his heart with another'... Right well in the real world we use medicine to diagnose such things so after a _professional_ looks at the boy we'll be able to go from there." Minato said simply, taking no small amount of sass with the girl's - for she was just that in reality - assertions that a 'fragmented heart' would stop someone from waking.

"And you have apparently _lost_ all traces of Chakra because of this weapon?" He gestured to Harmony, resting against his son's leg, Menma nodded though there was an uncertainty to it, "You look unsure."

"I'm not 100% sure, the only thing I've really tried to do is the shadow clone, I'm honestly a little worried to try out something else." Minato's expression softened ever so slightly.

"I can understand your hesitance, son." Minato allowed with a small nod, "But we have to be certain, if you could…" The Hokage trailed off as his son stood up, he looked around the room for a moment before positioning himself in the centre.

"Let's see… hmm." Menma rubbed his chin for a moment and nodded to himself, he tried to feel out his chakra and grew progressively worried as it seemed to be outside of his current abilities, reguardless of this he turned to the open window and performed a familiar chain of handsigns, " _ **Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!**_ "

His Guardian suddenly exploded out of his shadow and thrust two of its palms forward, releasing a long blitz of blackened flames, the Shinobi blinked rapidly, Menma paused before turning to his shadowy half.

"You're channeling magic through your Guardian…" Aqua informed quietly, a sombre expression seemingly etched into her face, "Keyblade Wielders are granted magic of various kinds when we first produce our weapons. Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Aero, Magnet, Reflect, Stop, Cure, and Gravity."

"From the looks of it because of your inexperience your Guardian is trying to compensate for your commands by channeling it for you." Aqua theorized, Minato jotted a few things down as the burly shadow returned to its home.

Menma frowned, "That makes things a little trickier then. Having to learn something from scratch again."

"When Ven wakes up… we can train together. It'll be just like-" Aqua's eyes shimmered for a moment before she swallowed thickly and went silent, Minato looked to Menma and nodded.

"You're free to roam for the moment, I got what I needed to. Feel free to visit your friend after he's had his check-up." Menma offered a hand to Aqua who took it very slowly, her fingers gradually weaving into his own.

' _Not what I meant but sure._ ' The assassin shrugged off the action as she more than likely just needed _something_ at the moment.

 **Hospital; Ventus' Room.**

The boy was motionless and silent as the heart monitor beeped in a perfect pattern, one of the more renowned doctors was looking after the young man, a young woman with short black hair, donned in a white coat over a simple black vest and trousers, Shizune.

"All his vitals are clear, and he seems to currently be in a deep sleep." Shizune said, more to herself than to anyone else, as though she were seeing a grand puzzle before her, "His brain just seems to be... " Shizune ceased her words, recollecting herself she excused herself and returned to her office.

Menma looked down at Aqua as he leant against the wall, he didn't like hospitals at the best of times and he felt genuinely uncomfortable at the bedside of a comatose boy he'd never met with a girl he'd only known for a few hours, yes in that few hours he'd asked a lot of her but this was something different.

He quietly sighed to himself and leant off the wall, he placed a hand over Ventus' chest feeling the heart beat rhythmically beneath his palm, Aqua gave him a questioning glance as he stared into her eyes, "How can I fix this?"

Aqua's eyes widened but Menma kept talking, "Look I've done you wrong by forcing so much on you today and I'd like to make it up to you, if helping your friend smoothes out any bumps I'll do it in a heartbeat."

"Why?" Aqua questioned, sincere curiosity on her face.

"Because it's the right thing to do, and my parents didn't raise a punk." Menma said firmly, "So what's the problem and how do I fix it?"

"The only way would be to reclaim the parts of his heart that he gave to Sora… their hearts became entwined when Ven was younger so… he doesn't have a full heart." Menma mentally replaced each time she said 'heart' with soul and it made a slight amount more sense because there are just some rather stupid things about the Keyblader mentality when it came to hearts.

"So… say someone else shared a part with Ventus until he was able to reclaim his original piece?" Menma proposed idly, finally retracting his hand and placing it on his own chest.

"M-Menma I couldn't ask that of you."

"Will it kill me?"

"Well no bu-"

"Does it anyway impede my ability to live my life normally."

"No so long as Ven stays safe you'll be fine too, but Menma this is just too extreme, Ven's heart fragment isn't in any danger but placing another piece could have serious effects on you when you get it back."

"Hope for the best expect the worst." Menma said with a shrug.

"Just listen to me!" Aqua snapped and stood up, grabbing his collar across the comatose boy, "I can't let you do this, Menma! I don't want my friends in any more danger! Please!"

The shimmering in her eyes came back as she said that, Menma internally twisted in on himself and sighed, "Gods dammit, fine. Where's this Sora kid?"

"I have no idea, that's why we just need to wait."

"For what Aqua, from a sign from the heavens above that this random kid will just appear to give back your friends heart-piece? That's not a plan, that's naive hope!"

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO!" Then she actually started to cry, crystal liquid pouring down her pale face. "I'm so _scared_." She said, her shoulder shaking, her body rattled as she spoke, "I can't lose anyone else I just can't."

"I'm not waiting around for something to happen. That's not the kind of person I am." Menma pried her hands off his collar and straightened his jacket, he looked around the room, "If anyone asks, I'll be back in a few days. I'm going to find this stupid kid."

Menma commanded the Passage to open with single word, " _ **Sora**_." The door opened as he stepped through, Aqua looked between the closing doors and Ventus and froze, indecision hitting her damaged heart like a freight train.

The Twilight Passage closed and the assassin disappeared. She sunk into the chair at the bedside and bit her lip, trying to regain her composure.

 **Twilight Town; Station**

Menma appeared at an overlook, a fantastic view of a town laid out before him with the sun setting in the distance long train lines across rolling verdant green hills, he crossed his arms and looked around, the glass doors of a train station entrance behind him and a path leading further into town off to his left, he hummed and gave the area one more scan, no one was around.

"That's a little odd." He admitted to himself but walked to the path regardless, as he progressed deeper into town people began to crop up, one man putting away some giant sack in a shed, his brow visibly drenched in sweat.

A few stray children playing with one another, older teens looking to be chatting amongst themselves, shopkeepers tending to their customers a community in motion.

He followed his feet as he passed through the town, like a divining rod his body led him.

Though when he came upon a wide open space with a raised square arena in the centre he thought perhaps directions would be in order, he saw a trio of people.

One was a taller male with a red singlet with baggy black trousers and shirt dark hair, his skin was a tanned olive tone.

Second was a young woman with pale blue hair and an almost expressionless face, she wore a dark blue vest and white pants, and had quite fair skin.

Finally was a young man with a black beanie on his head, stray strands of blond peaking out, he wore a white coat without the sleeves and a dark blue crop-top vest with white lining, baggy dark trousers and black boots.

"Oi, kiddos. I need some directions." Menma said waving at them as he strode in their direction.

"Whoa man, you don't just go demandin' things of Seifer, ya know?" The larger of the three immediately replied with a step forward and an eager nod.

"Arrogant." Agreed the girl.

Menma blinked for a moment as the beanie wearing male strode up to him and poked him in the chest, "Look here outsider, this is my town and if you're gonna be wandering around you bett-" Seifer was immediately knocked into the ground, Menma's fist was steaming as a large welt formed on the younger male's jaw.

"Sneak attack!" The girl said with a snap.

"No honour in suckerpunching a guy, ya know!" Agreed the male as he helped his friend or boss or lover, or whatever, up but as he did he was met with a boot and knocked down.

Menma leant down and grabbed Seifer by the scruff of his collar, "Now you listen here and you listen well you little fuck or so help me _god_ I'll break you so bad you'll beg for death. Is there a place around here where ominous or otherwise strange thing occur!" Saffron eyes stared into Seifer's soul, he tried to put on a brave face but ultimate ended up spilling his guts.

"A mansion! In the woods, follow the path down that way you can't miss it!"

Menma dropped the boy and left, he had no patience for punks.

' _I always did get a big kick outta scaring the pants off people._ ' Menma walked in the direction he was pointed with a grin, though it did eventually melt into a scowl, ' _Runnin' about like a damn fool to get some stranger's heart back, stupid morals goddamn why'd I have to be raised right?_ '

Sometimes he cursed his good upbringing.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Discord if the alternate form of Harmony, in place of releasing hearts and destroying nobodies it instead devours the Darkness and the Nothing within them, in turn powering its wielder.**

 **Guardian isn't the only Heartless under Menma's employ but he is the current culmination of his Darkness.**

 **Magic; Without any formal training the Guardian is Menma's only was of currently producing and channeling the foreign energies within him.**

 _ **Raxychaz!**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Twilight Town; 'Haunted' Mansion**

Menma found himself at the iron gates of a large, admittedly beautiful, house. The forestry about the area the so thick only one path lay open to him on the way there, he hummed to himself before tapping Harmony against the gates, amusingly they swung straight open.

As he walked towards the entrance he was stopped, a figure - somewhat familiar - stood guard at the door suddenly, appearing in a flash of dark energies.

"Ansem." Menma greeted, the man's body language was tense but he reciprocated the gesture.

"Menma. How did you find this place?" Ansem questioned.

"I came here looking for a kiddo named Sora, he's got a heart fragment that doesn't belong to him." Menma said simply, Ansem seemed shocked or at least enough to have his body flinch slightly, "A boy named Ventus, it's his. I'm not here to hurt Sora, just ask him to come with me to give back what he's held onto for however long it's been."

"Ventus… How do you know that name?"

Menma blew a strand of hair out of his face as his frustration slowly began to bubble, "A woman named Aqua led me to him, apparently they're quite close because she won't even leave his bedside for a moment. Currently the both of them are on my world, resting in the hospital."

"Aqua's alive!?" Menma suddenly appeared before Ansem, grabbed his collar with such force that his hood fell down, revealing a tanned man with brilliant amber eyes and silver hair, saffron gold burned into Ansem's very soul.

"Is Sora here?" Menma questioned with a deathly quiet.

Ansem tried to wriggle out of his grasp but the man found that Menma had an iron grip, "I can't let you hurt him."

"Ansem." Menma said, his patience trying its damndest to stay alive, taking a deep breath through his nose he continued, "I'm not _going_ to hurt him, I'm going to _talk_ to him, and so help me god if you persist being a fucking thickheaded fool, I'm going to hurt _you!_ " Menma shook Ansem furiously when he tried to get out of his grip once more.

" **Tell me where the boy is!** " Furious Shadows rose in the area round Menma, each of them twitching angrily as their - oddly enough - purple eyes locked onto Ansem.

"There's no need for violence, my friend." A new voice said, the door to the mansion opened, a man draped in a red cloak, red bandages covering his face and hands along with a duo of black belts. His long almost dress like robe flowed with each step he took, several pouches down his left side.

A single amber eye peered towards the tallest one in the area, "DiZ…" Ansem muttered, abashed.

"You seek Sora? Well if you would be so kind as to release my assistant, I can take you to him." DiZ, for apparently that was his name, said.

Menma's mood settled as the need for intimidation waned, he released Ansem and walked behind the red clothed man.

Ansem looked upon the swathe of Shadows before the sunk into the ground and rejoined in the actual shadow of their creator.

The heavy steps echoed through the dilapidated and ruined mansion, he was led through a library and into a basement, past a large computer setup and some kind of machine built into the wall, until finally Menma was led through a well lit hallway, crystalline flowers holding two figures in stasis, they weren't a human boy so he didn't care.

He was idly unnerved at what the sight though, a bipedal dog man and a giant duck?

DiZ led him to the final room, much larger than the others, and within was his quarry.

"As you can see, Sora is currently resting. When we are finished chaining his memories together he will awaken and you may speak with him, until then I ask you to be patient." DiZ was a reasonable enough fellow so Menma nodded.

He offered his hand to the older man who took it and shook it, "Thank you for you time, DiZ. I appreciate your transparency."

"I appreciate you not gutting my assistant." Ah, gallows humour, a personal favourite.

"So what's the real reason you allowed me down here?" Menma said, pulling the man closer through their handshake and staring at him critically.

"Good to see I'm not dealing with the average youth with power. Very well, I've a favour to ask of you, that could expedite the process of Sora's awakening."

"And what would that be?" Menma questioned.

"Protecting his Nobody from a miscreant named Axel." DiZ said simply.

This would require explanation.

 **Later**

Menma once more found himself in Twilight Town Sandlot, though this time during the simulated Struggle Championship. Menma watched on and on as Roxas, whom shared an identical face and voice to Ventus, marched his way across the competition, easily flattening his peers and trouncing the now-shamed Champion Setzer.

Then the Dusks started to appear, ' _Aaand, that's my cue._ '

"Stop!" Each of the Dusks immediately wilted in their approach to the now-keyblade wielding boy, who turned sharply to see the approaching man, his hands held in an assuring gesture, "Don't fret, pal. I'm here to help, names Menma, Uzumaki Menma."

"What did you do to these… things?" Roxas asked, genuinely confused at everything that was happening.

"These creatures…" Menma swept a hand across them as he placed his other on Roxas' shoulder, "Are called Dusks, they are a type of Nobody. Nobody's occur when a strong-willed person falls into despair and surrenders to the darkness, a Nobody lives in between life and death, flitting across the river styx like an indecisive swimmer."

"Huh…?"

"Alright, lemme change it up. So a Nobody is what's left over when your soul leaves your body, right?" Roxas nodded as he got that part down, "Easy breezy, so _these guys_ are your garden variety… say like, some average guy died and couldn't let go of a few things in life, his soul left but his body kept on truckin', that's what you get."

"So they're… kinda like zombies?" Roxas asked, unsure but trying to understand, the man smiled brightly and nodded.

"Spot on kiddo, well done." Menma grinned brightly and ruffled his hair, Roxas' cheeks flushed at the forward nature of the older male, "So anyway, the reason I'm here to give ya a hand is because I gotta make sure you get through all the crazy stuff that's been happening' recently."

"So… that guy in black coat, and when one of these… Dusks stole the photos, or how everyone's frozen at the moment, stuff like that?" Roxas asked, getting another wide, friendly smile and a nod.

"Aced it." Menma snapped a finger and summoned Harmony, "I can even give ya a few tips on how to use that bad-boy."

"You've got one too!" Roxas smiled as excitement bubbled, finally some answer!

"Who are you and what are you doing with Roxas!" A new voice shot through the silence, both turned to see a lankier figure wearing a black coat, he strode forward and looked like a defensive cat with the way his back was arched.

"You must be Axel." Menma said simply, as the man removed his hood, a wild, windswept corona of red spikes vibrant green eyes were the first noticeable things, along with two purple markings just below his eyes, admittedly the man was a good looker unfortunately the scowl on his face ruined it somewhat.

"What nonsense are you filling his head with?" Axel demanded with fervor.

"I was actually just telling him what Dusks are, also don't talk like Roxas isn't here, that's rude dude." Menma said with a wave of his hand.

"Roxas, you've gotta come with me we'll get you outta here and fix your memories." Axel assured as he produced his chakrams, flurries of flame leaping to life and forming two intricate circular weapons.

"Alright bud, sit tight he's gonna need a stern talkin' to." Menma pat Roxas on the shoulder as his small army of Shadows took care of the Dusks before forming a protective ring around the boy much to his fright.

Menma strode forward and Axel grit his teeth, "Alright bud, spill it. Why are you here?" Axel made to strike but Menma grabbed his wrist and twisted it painfully, "Listen up chucklefuck, I'm more of a talker when it comes to resolution than an abuser, so if you wanna talk this out like adults I'm happy with that. But don't for a second think that I'll let you get in the way of me protectin' this kid."

"Protecting him?" Axel snapped suddenly, his eyes widening with shock, "You're human, why are you protecting a Nobody?"

"Because you idiot, I don't care what you've been told _you aren't a traditional nobody_." Menma released Harmony and pressed his hand against the man's chest, a heart beating quickly beneath his coat, "You've got your heart idiot, it doesn't dictate what you feel. It's all chemicals and familiarity, you lack a 'Heart' because of what you are, but in reality it just means you're in half."

"Wh-what are you talking about! That's not important right now, what are you doing here and what are you planning to do with him?" Menma released Axel and crossed his arms.

"I'm not planning anything, I'm waiting for Roxas to reunite with Sora because he doesn't belong to Sora. He belongs to another boy whose soul connected with Sora's under duress. Once Sora wakes up, Roxas can go back to where he belongs."

Axel looked at the other man with a hard gaze, "You think I'll just let you do that, huh? I'm not letting my _best friend_ fade away!" Axel moved to attack.

"Ventus." This gave the firestarter pause.

"Excuse you?"

"Ventus. That's the boy's name, he's another Keyblader. If he doesn't wake up someone I know is going to waste her whole life by the bedside of a comatose corpse, I'll not let that pass by."

"I… I know Ventus." Axel admitted suddenly, he blinked for a second, swallowing thickly and looked over Menma's shoulder to look at Roxas, old memories surfacing. "Roxas is… his Nobody, isn't he?"

"Now you're getting it." Menma said, a smile growing on his lips as he nodded, "From what I've been able to piece together, Roxas is the by-product of Sora and Ventus' hearts connecting when the two were younger. If I can put everyone back where they're supposed to be, it means that everyone gets to be happy, and you get your friend back."

Axel pursed his lips as his shoulder shook for a moment, taking a breath he leant towards the black haired male, "If I find out you're givin' me the runaround I'll turn you to ashes."

"I feel like this is the start of a beautiful friendship, Axel." Menma chuckled and pat the man on the shoulder, pulling him close as the duo walked towards Roxas, "Ahh feel that, that's the feeling of reason and sense making a step forward."

"Roxas, I know you've probably got even more questions right now but trust me pal, if you need me, just call I won't be far." Menma saluted the younger man with two fingers and called back his Shadows, "We've got your back, right Axel?"

"Y-yeah, it was good seeing you again Roxas." The two disappeared into a sunset coloured door Roxas' eyes widened before he palmed his face.

"I'm so damn confused."

 **DiZ's Computer Lab**

Menma and Axel appeared once more, "I see you managed to take care of the situation, and without violence, I'd say you have a talent for diplomacy but then I think my assistant would disagree."

DiZ spun in his chair to address the duo whilst Ansem grunted, Axel quirked a brow, "Who's this guy?" He said, gesturing with his chin at the other cloaked man.

"Ansem." Menma answered in his place, "DiZ anything else you need from me for now? I should check back in at the hospital."

"No, for the time being you've already made everything go along swimmingly. Without Axels interference there's little to fear that Roxas cannot handle, I will alert you should he call for you." DiZ handed Menma some odd circular device.

"What's this." The screen on it was small and overall the device was roughly the size of his palm.

"It will flash red when I recall you, Menma. Simply put, it is a pager." Menma made a noise of acknowledgment and nodded, tucking the pager into his pocket. He turned to Axel.

"You're comin' with me."

"Why the hell should I?" Axel asked, trying to regain some ground he'd lost in the face of the previous events.

"Because I don't see you doin' anything else. What _do_ you even do?" Asked the man as he opened the way home, Axel grunted and began espousing exposition about Organisation 13.

"Do you really believe that Axel will give up so easily?" Ansem asked, his amber eyes looking to DiZ.

The older man chuckled and spun back to his monitors, "Truly? No. But for the time being it seems our mutual friend has managed to convince Axel that our way is the way to return Roxas to him. Regardless of the semantics involved, he's not completely incorrect. If all goes according to plan, Roxas will return to Ventus and the boy _should_ awaken."

"And should Axel… decide that it is not the case?" Ansem questioned.

"I hardly see how that could be an issue, you have experienced his power first hand. What do you make of it?" DiZ questioned over his shoulder, Ansem considered this for a moment before answering.

"Wild. Untamed. It's like being in the face of an eclipse, but at the same time he's so unfamiliar with the way of the Keyblade he's easily exploited. It's… an interesting experience."

"And as we both know, Axel is much the same. Through either his Somebody's personality or his aspect of fire, he battles in a way akin to a manic animal." DiZ said simply, "If they should come to blows, I propose… that with the combination of his Heartless, Menma would emerge victorious."

"I suppose we'll just have to wait."

 **Konoha; A Day After Menma's Departure.**

Aqua sat in the hospital, the bags under her eyes were heavy as she sat at the bedside of Ven. The sound of the heart monitor was slowly becoming soothing, the rhythmic beeps attempting to coax her to sleep.

Suddenly a hand fell on her shoulder, followed by another hand on her other shoulder, tired blue eyes looked to gentle purple, a wan smile grew on her face as a pair of arms wrapped around her, Aqua stilled at that, placing a hand over the forearm of the one hugging her.

A pair of lips touched her temple, the intimacy of the gesture stirred something strange in her, "Sorry for how I acted." Came the whisper into her ear, gradually the world fell back into place as a long curtain of black fell over her eyes, Menma had leant over so his face was upside-down and looking at hers.

"C'mon, Aqua. You've gotta get cleaned up and have a bath. If you don't relax, by the time Ventus wakes up you'll probably be dead." Menma tugged her out of the chair and kept one arm around her shoulder.

"Axel. you're on watch." A black coat, wild red hair.

"I'm so tired…" Aqua muttered into her friend's side.

"That's an understatement." His voice held an amused lilt to it, "C'mon, we'll get ya showered and tucked in."

"Thas'ounds 'ood." Muttered Aqua into his side, Menma allowed an amused smile to slip onto his face as he picked her up and carried her to the public baths.

Axel remained, looking directly at Ventus and frowning. He ran his hands through his hair and shook it out, "Man, what am I even doin' here? Talked into something so stupid." He frowned and took a seat, kicking his legs up onto the edge of the bed.

"I bet you don't even remember me, huh?" Axel said to the comatose boy, "Ol' Lea and Isa… those were… better days. Heh, I can't believe I gave you smack for using a wooden keyblade when I walked around with _frisbees_ damn I was corny." Axel broke into a fond chuckle as he reminisced.

"I did always wonder where you ended up getting to, Ventus ya'know? Where that cool guy I met disappeared to, Radiant Garden got kinda boring after that. Well until everything that happened… happened." Axel frowned as flashes and memories passed his mind.

He shook them away, it did one no good to remember being taken down by a Heartless. That did pique his interest though, "Where _is_ my heartless? If it's still out there, when I go down… I suppose that'll make me a whole corpse at least." Axel chuckled morosely and hung his head.

He sunk into the chair and threw a hand up, patting Ventus' arm for a moment. "Sleep well pal… when you're up and about we'll go for Ice-No… I'm not replacing Roxas with you, that wouldn't be fair to him. If you remember that'll be that, when Roxas comes back to you I'll… well I've got your back, because I mean…"

Axel's gaze took a fond turn once more, "What are friends for?"

For a moment Axel could have sworn he saw the corners of Ven's lips perk upwards.

 **Konoha; Afternoon, Uzumaki Household**

It was definitely an experience trying to get a sleep deprived Aqua to bathe. He'd have to deal with her judgemental gaze later as he ended up having to come into the bath with her to stop her from falling asleep and drowning, he did wear swimming trunks but women were finicky about that kinda stuff sometimes.

That being said she smelt a hell of a lot better afterwards, because hoo-boy, sitting in a hospital for hours on end is _not_ good for the body.

Regardless she was in bed in the Clan Head's home. His mother had been rather insistent that he actually start taking that roll more seriously and whilst he agreed with her in a sense he _didn't_ want to start dealing with the politics of it all at the moment.

He needed more time to mature, his temper already flared to easily and that just wasn't how a Clan Head was supposed to act. Also it didn't help that there were only a handful other people in the clan to begin with, his cousins Tayuya - whom had been found as a street rat by his mother at some point - and Karin, who came from… somewhere to seek out the Clan after hearing of its re-establishment.

Tangents aside, he was going to give it a little bit longer for his young blood to settle before he took up the position formally.

Currently he was eating lunch with his little brother, sitting in the backyard of a his parents abode with his back against a tree and his jacket off to the side, two bowls of ramen between himself and his brother, Menma snapped his chopsticks and tucked in as he began regaling his brother with current events.

"So-" Menma licked his lips of excess broth as he paused his eating to begin, "Turns out there are other worlds out there." He allowed that to sink in for a moment before continuing, "And boy howdy are there a lot of weird lookin' people who inhabit them, I saw a bipedal dog today, Naruto. A bipedal fakkin' dog. Not what I wanted, nor expected I tell ya."

A few bubbles of laughter left the back yard and Kushina looked out the window with a small, sad smile on her face.

Her long, glorious red hair was tied back into a ponytail, the idle thought of her son dying his hair crossed her mind but she brushed the thought away, he'd repeatedly said when he was 'Ready to be a man' he'd stop doing so and take his _goddamn seat!_

She was a young woman, only 38! She didn't want to spend her days attending meetings, let the kids do that, that's what they're there for!

An amused grin tugged at her lips as she shook her head, "Ooii! Kushina-sama!" Kushina clicked her tongue at having her thoughts interrupted, her young cousin Tayuya strode in.

Short red hair beneath a dark purple bandana, wearing a simple white t-shirt and denim shorts combo. Her light brown eyes sparked with the grin on her lips, " I smelt food and came'a runnin'."

"Of course you did." Kushina rolled her eyes, a fond smile on her face as the young woman sat across from her, the table was set with various amounts of deliciousness, when she heard her little boy was visiting for lunch she kinda went a little crazy.

Cheeky shit already brought food for himself, though at least he brought a guest for her to throw food at.

"Where's Karin?" Kushina asked as she nibbled at her lunch.

"She's comin' just wanted to make sure she was all dolled up for tall dark and gloomy out there." Tayuya scoffed.

"Why so huffy, Tayuya? Are you jealous?" Kushina teased lightly with a cheeky smirk.

"As _if!_ He'd be lucky to get all up on this." She gestured to herself grandiosely, "I ain't all about that though, he's not my type."

"I'm sure the fact that he treats you like a little girl still has nothing to do with it."

"Mother! I can sense you meddling, stop it!" Menma's voice shot through the house from the back yard easily, Kushina burst into a fit of laughter as Tayuya grumbled and ate her food.

"So, I gotta ask… what's he doin' out there?" Axel suddenly questioned, both women turned to him, Kushina went to answer him only for Tayuya to suddenly scream in shock and fall out of her chair.

"Holy shit what the everloving fuck!" Tayuya looked ready to murder somebody, she did _not_ like being scared.

"Maybe keep your eyes open next time, kiddo." Axel said simply, shrugging with a grin on his face, impish though it may be.

"Oh great, another one." Tayuya grit her teeth and righted her chair, "Who the hell are you supposed to be?"

"Names Axel, got it memorized?" The green eyed firestarter's introduction never lost its luster.

"Probably not, you look pretty forgettable." Tayuya waved him off, Kushina hid a smile as Axel frowned.

"Well, that's just rude." Axel said as he grabbed a piece of fish and wolfed it down, the two met eyes and sparks danced between their glares.

"Menma-sama~!"

"Aaand here we go." Tayuya groaned into her bowl as Karin walked into the house.

Bright red hair, like blooming roses one half down and sleek, the other wild and spiky, intense red eyes with a ruby-like shine to them framed by a pair of dark glasses, and fair skin the only markings being a - what appeared to be - bite marks along her arms.

At the time she wore a dark blue vest with the zipper undone just enough to give a tempting hint at her cleavage. A pair of tight fitting leggings that showed off her toned legs and tight buns.

Gotta love them buns.

"He's having lunch outside, dingus." Tayuya muttered, her cousin however remained unfaltering and took her seat at the table between her fellow Uzumaki and Axel.

"Hey there stranger, Uzumaki Karin." She greeted easily, Axel accepted the offered hand in his own gloved one and shook it firmly.

"Names Axel, pleasure."

"I'm sure it is." With a confidant wink she dug in to lunch.

"To answer your earlier question, Axel-san." Kushina began, her expression becoming a sombre one.

"Menma is sitting outside with his brother." Tayuya cut in, her teeth gnashing against a strip of meat.

"That's nice and all but it's just him ou-oh." Now he saw it, Axel stood up to get a better view from the window, Menma had seemingly wrapped up his conversation and was relighting some incense.

A small photo and a plaque were all the firestarter could make out but he got the idea.

Menma was sitting with a grave.

 _ **End**_

 **Hope you guys liked it, if you did lemme know and I'll get all jolly and motivated.**

 **If not also let me know, my forte is usually character interaction but I'd like to keep improving.**

 _ **Raxychaz!**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Konoha; The Second Day**

Menma had stayed in the head-house for Aqua's recovery period, Axel had been dragged away on numerous occasions and basically became his cousins personal gossip queen.

It had been amusing enough watching the 'emotionless' Nobody chuckle and mesh so well into his household, it appeared Axel's usual shit-talking nature worked well with Tayuya's attitude and Karin's faux-superiority.

Menma spent a little of his morning talking to the still unconscious Ventus, keeping him informed on everything that was going on, a dark part of his mind told him to not bother trying to replace his brother with another person but he pushed those thoughts out and focused on reality instead of inner ramblings.

Currently the Uzumaki soon-to-be-head was getting ready to sit at the table for lunch with his parents, his long hair was tied back into a ponytail whilst his front was covered with a dark grey apron, the black outline of a chicken on the front.

He was making 'smash burgers' basically burgers with crispy, thinner patties than usual, this was accomplished by placing a ball of ground beef, roughly about the size of one's palm, onto a scorching hot pan, once cooked on a single side one flipped their patty over and placed a length of cheese on the ready side.

It was quite fast, and tasted immaculate, never forget to toast your burger buns in the pan oil kids.

The sound of feet alerted Menma to Aqua coming down the stairs, he turned to greet her and she smiled with the glow of a small sun, both his parents turned to see their adult son blushing like a schoolboy at the sight of the bedraggled Aqua.

She was gorgeous, that was sure, and the slightly oversized shirt and skin-tight pants, accompanied with her yawn and smile made for the deadly mixture of cute and unintentionally seductive.

"Good morning." She greeted, immediately going to his side, "Ooh, those smell amazing." She praised with a grin.

"Good _afternoon_ , Aqua. How're you feeling?" Menma corrected with a small grin slipping onto his reddened face.

"Much better, I wanted to… apologise, for how I acted. I know you were trying to help, I guess after waiting so long I-" Aqua was silenced by Menma placing an arm around her shoulder and pulling her into his chest.

"You don't gotta worry about it, if I recognised how it was all affecting you sooner I could have made life easier on you. How about you park your butt at the table and I'll make extra?" She nodded against him, his heavily beating heart against her ear.

She nodded and went to the table, "Thank you both very much for allowing me into your home."

Kushina grinned, and smacked Minato's shoulder to get his attention, "She's a keeper already."

"Kushina." Minato said at length with a sigh, his eyes settled on their guest, "It's our pleasure. Though in a few years it'll be Menma's house. He's just being stubborn.."

"Are you moving away?" Aqua questioned, puzzled.

"No dear." Kushina said with a chuckle, "It's a minor bout of familial politics, the Uzumaki Clan has always had a patriarch and a matriarch. Currently it's I who has the blood of the Clan and Minato who is the one who married in, it's just not done. And if I can pawn off some meetings onto my kid to get on with the better aspects of life I will."

This in turn lead into a conversation about the family-centric clan system in place on this world that brought a lot of Aqua's questions to light, it gave her context for the actions of the previous days

These were a very insular and untrusting people to strangers, and devoted guardians to friends.

It was interesting on the receiving end of these two attitudes within such a short space of time.

Lunch was pleasant, Menma was definitely a practiced cook and it showed in his offerings, though the sheer amount of food stuffed in between the buns on his plate worried Aqua somewhat, beef patties, bacon, grilled onions, cheese, pineapple, more bacon and avocado all piled up and smashed together.

His manner in life was polite and poised, but his eating habits made him look like a vicious animal.

"Hey are you makin' food without me!" Demanded a voice, Axel strode into the house and locked his arm around the other male's neck, Menma coughed and choked before gulping down a mouthful lemonade and slamming his knuckles into Axel's stomach.

"You wank-baby, some of us actually enjoy living." Menma said as he cleared his throat, getting up from his chair and fetching the man-child some food.

"Th-thanks…" Gasped out the firestarter.

 **Uzumaki Training Grounds; The Third Day**

"So channeling magic is linear, what I mean by that is that there's a specific way the Keyblade Wielders use magic and that is the _only_ way we use it, it doesn't work if you try something random like shouting, 'Backwards' or something like that." Aqua instructed as she and Menma stood out in the Clan's wide and flat training ground.

The Uzumaki specialised in two things, Kenjutsu and the talent of Fuinjutsu. Menma enjoyed cutting people with the best of 'em but his true passion was Ninjutsu, there was a freeing kind of sensation when one man could release a mighty torrent of lightning or summon up a ferocious squall of water.

Now that he lacked that ability he had to re-train himself, to use magic in an effort to ensure he didn't flail about with his hand on his dick.

"Menma, are you listening?" Aqua's bright blue eyes invaded his world for a moment as he was dragged out of his inner monologue, his purple gaze clearing out the haze as he smiled and nodded.

"Sorry, bit scattered at the moment." Menma explained before summoning Harmony, and standing next to Aqua who produced Master Eraqus' weapon.

"That's okay, just mimic my movement, then we'll get on to actually performing the spells." Instructed the older of the two, whilst yes time was still in the realm of darkness Aqua had been there for what he assumed to be roughly 10 or so years, she was older than he was and that was that.

They started with Blizzard, then on to Fire, Magnet was actually the easiest for him to perform, getting it right on the second time, his other best was Thunder, which was actually lightning. It bothered him intensely that it was called Thunder.

Thunder was noise.

Aqua actually giggled at his twitch whenever she said the spells name.

The others he was mediocre in, his Cure abilities were quite stock standard, that was something he'd work on hardest, it was well and good to be able to topple an army with a spell but if you could effectively remove death from the equation it made you much harder to deal with.

The rounded off the day with some sparing the entire time his folks were watching as it was Minato's day off and Kushina was enjoying the house being full of life once more.

"She's a good sort." Kushina said idly, initiating conversation with her militaristic husband, war had changed the naive young man he was when they met but that only made her love him more, that he could change so much and still come home to her every night and give her two beautiful sons.

His stoicism may be a problem for others, but to Kushina her husband was still a big teddy bear.

"She's a strong fighter, that's to be sure. I'm still feeling the vibrations from those lightning techniques." Minato admitted just as idly as he sipped his drink.

"That's not what I meant." Kushina prodded with a small frowm.

"I'm aware." Minato shot back with a smirk, "But I hardly think it's our place to get our hopes up on an outsider sticking around because she gets along with our son."

"But all the other women his age are so… meh." And it was true, from Kushina's point of view a lot of Menma's peers left a lot to be desired, they were either too weak to keep up with her boy, or too shallow to take the time to know him beyond "The Hokage's Son".

It also didn't help that she was worried he was gay until recently due to how little interest he expressed in having a partner.

"How about this, if she decides to stay i'll write up the immigration papers myself. Until then we both know how conditional her spending time with our son is." There it was, the overly protective pessimist that watched over his boy like a hawk.

"Minato." Kushina said with a heavy sigh, "Just because we're helping her doesn't mean she _owes_ Menma her time. They're having fun, look at their smiles."

"I don't trust it, Kushina. I love you and I love our boys, but I'll not trust some stranger with his heart so easily."

"For heaven's sake, they've known eachother for a few days, stop talking like she's the be-all-end-all!" Snapped Karin as she strode out from the living room into the wide training yard.

"Getting jealous, Karin-chan." Kushina said with a cheeky grin.

"Yes!" Karin said quickly her cheeks flushing slightly, "It's like I don't exist anymore, Menma-sama never missed out tuesday reading time."

Reading with Karin had been Menma's attempt at getting her comfortable around him, it apparently worked so well that she refused to let him miss any tuesday he was in the village, on missions she could understand but parading about the training area with some… _hussy_ outsider just because this Aqua woman had gorgeous eyes, a killer figure, and a great ass!

Karing had all those things!

Minato and Kushina watched as the young woman grit her teeth and steamed with anger.

"There's no need to be jealous, Karin." Tayuya said, following after her cousin at the sound of Karin making a fool of herself, "It's not like you had a chance to begin with."

"Like you did!?" Snapped the taller of the two.

"No, but I didn't want one. He's _not my type_ , I don't know how many times I've got to tell you." The musician said with a huff as he crossed her arms.

"What's all the noise about? I was having a great nap." Axel said, dropping from the roof and landing aside the squabbling girls, looking at the two verbal tear at one another he turned to the parents of his host.

"They're just being prickly because their chances are slowing fading before them."

Menma and Aqua cast each other sidewards glances, "No, they don't know I can hear them. They never do."

"Isn't all this a little… personal?" Aqua asked quietly to her partner.

"It's the closest thing my parents get to meddling in my romantic life, I'll take gossip over arranged marriage any day." Menma informed with a small grin, at a thought it fell into a frown, "Though I can't believe she thought I was gay."

"What's 'gay'?" Aqua asked with a puzzled look.

Menma paused for a moment and looked at her, "I'm gonna rapid-fire some words at you and you tell me if you know them or not, okay?"

"Sure."

"BDSM."

"No."

"Reverse-Cowgirl."

"Sounds a little strange."

"Bisexual."

"...like a bicycle?"

"Not really, how about anal?"

"..."

"Aqua!"

"I grew up in a monastery! I have no idea what any of what you're saying means!" Defended the blue haired woman with flushed cheeks.

"It's all related to sex!" At the sudden realisation Aqua's face turned from slightly red to atomic, "Did you never get 'the talk'?" Menma asked with a slightly awed face.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." Aqua squeaked out.

"Come with me, I have so many things to show you." Menma took her hand and ran off towards the nearest adult store with a manic laughter leaving him, Aqua bright red the whole way.

"What the hell was that about?" Axel asked with a tilt of his head.

"Menma looked suspiciously like Jiraiya for a moment there." Minato said with a narrowed gaze.

"He gets that from you." Kushina immediately said.

"That's a lie and you know it." Minato rebuked his flushed wife who grinned widely, "Deviant."

"Oh! The nerve of some people!" Kushina declared with gusto, "I don't have to sit here and take this!"

"No, typically you take it on your hands and knees." Everyone turned to the Hokage as his own grin grew in place, the sass of that man was implausible at times.

 **Axel, Karin and Tayuya; The Fourth Day**

The Uzumaki cousins and the Nobody strode through the Village. Axel had to admit he had grown a certain fondness for this place, the fact it was the perfect place to hide from the Organisation was also fantastic.

The company of this little family was foreign to him, it reminded him of what felt like a bygone era, when Lea and Isa would spend time with one another, when everything in the world was so much simpler.

When his biggest concern was someone making fun of his frisbees.

And then everything was taken away from him when the Heartless took it all away, when they flooded the lower parts of Radiant Garden and tore it apart, becoming Hollow Bastion.

Axel looked skywards as the old memories resurfaced in force, he grimaced as age-old sensations grew in his chest, an old aching sensation, nostalgia.

"We've gotta get you a new outfit, your coat is starting to bore me." Karin said suddenly, looking up from her food and poking Axel in the ribs, who jumped sharply at the sudden assault.

"Give a guy some warning!" Axel scolded with a growl, flicking her ear with his gloved hand, "And what would you know? I look great right now."

"The problem is that wearing the same thing every day is unhygienic, Karin was trying to be nice." Tayuya said bluntly.

Axel coughed to clear his suddenly offended throat, Karin wrinkled her nose and nodded, "That's… one way to put it. To be frank your boots are getting dirtier and your gloves are starting to smell from how little you take them off… oddly enough the coat itself smells fine."

The firestarter didn't get to respond as a new voice entered the room, "Ah! Karin-chan!"

The red threesome turned to see a blonde haired girl with vibrant green eyes, seemingly lacking pupils, fair skin and adorned in a purple top and skirt combo, her midriff exposed to show off the amount of work she put into her Kunoichi career.

"Ino." Karin greeted the younger girl with a smile, "It's been a while, where've you been?"

"Asuma-sensei took us on a mission to Tea Country, so we were out of the village for a few weeks." Ino explained easily, "Not to brag or anything but I did a pretty great job."

"Information gathering?" Tayuya asked with a quirked brow, Ino nodded firmly, "Well I suppose that makes sense. Though given your teammates it's a pretty odd choice."

"Asuma-sensei wanted to see how Shikamaru and Chouji would act outta there comfort zone, gotta say I'm actually amazed with how smoothly everything went." Ino admitted with a grin, "Sorry if I ramble a bit I'm still riding the high, it was our first C-Rank."

"Hey you do you, nothing wrong with being proud of a job well done." Axel said with a shrug, Ino blinked seemingly only just noticing the tall male.

"Oh, sorry… are you another Uzumaki Clansman?" The blonde asked, "I'm Yamanaka Ino, it's a pleasure to meet a new family member of my friends."

"Uhh, n-"

"His names Axel, he's from a coastal village down south." Tayuya informed quickly, "He's new 'round Konoha. Menma found him."

"Oh! That's awesome." Ino said with a wide smile, "How is your cousin by the way? He always looks so moody." Ino was a people person, and always tried to check in with those she knew even if only a little.

"He's got himself some blue haired hussy that he's traipsing around with." Karin with a growl, Ino sweatdrop at the dark look around her older friends eyes.

Axel rolled his eyes as the world seemed dead-set on him being embroiled in gossip.

 **Menma - Keyblade Graveyard; The Fifth Day**

Menma appeared where, somewhat, it all began for his new duty. He looked around at the mess of wild and dead blades before him and sighed he dug deep and plunged his heart into his own darkness.

As he did hundreds of Shadows began to rise up from the ground. Some of them getting what was going on and suckling at the Keyblades, some were absorbed, others melded together, the process itself was meant to make use of all these empty vessels and in turn create a force under his heel that he could command with impunity.

Menma sat amongst the Keyblades for what felt like hours, he'd begun practicing how to draw out his Shadows and found it was actually quite simple, if one thought of his heart like a bauble on a string, lowering it into his darkness allowed a higher concentration of just such a thing to permeate his immediate area, and thus created creatures of the Dark directly from him, doing this allowed his to create and control many more of his personal minions.

He was meditating for perhaps mere an hour and a half or so before results started showing and in turn ended up creating an entire new form of his Shades.

They were not heartless, they did not devour pure hearts to grow stronger, they merely killed at his behest, and thus Shade made more sense to him, each of the shades had bright purple eyes and sunset orange skin beneath their armour.

Forty-seven tall figures stood lined up in formation around their lord, Menma rose from his seated position and pulled his heart back out of his own dark, feeling the essence of twilight balance out once more.

Each of his Paladins were easily seven and a half feet tall, easily eclipsing him, they were armoured much like samurai with thick, layered plates down their shoulders, hips and chest, black tabards draped over their chest plates and falling between their legs, each carrying an edited version of the Uzumaki spiral, in place of the simple design he had deigned to have the sigil be that of a three headed dragon of western roots, its tail curling into the traditional spiral against its stomach whilst the three heads curled over the top.

The red crest against the black background made it both striking and intimidating.

The Keyblades collected were homogenized into a single style, that being long silver blades with axe-like heads, the blades lacked fullers and instead were completely hollow being only edges.

Each key had a single dragon head as the keychain.

The Paladin's lacked facial features and instead all look akin to Hunter Nin masks, a pair of eyes against an otherwise indistinguishable face.

Menma strode through the battalion surrounding him and stood to inspect them, he tossed Harmony into the air and stood stop it, the blade floating upwards slightly to get a better view of his children.

Menma nodded in satisfaction, "I'm proud of you all, for becoming such strong members of my family. Thank you for being with me." Menma placed a hand on his heart as he smiled, and in fact they were technically speaking his family, they were parts of himself so in a really weird way this was all one grand act of narcissism.

Each of the Paladin's saluted, slamming their off-hands into the chests and standing straight.

"Now boys, I want you to remain here and propagate the Shadows that appear, make sure to keep growing the army and make sure these empty vessels find use." Menma descended back onto the ground as slowly but surely the concentration of all these almost-dark entities drew normal every-day Shadows to them.

The Paladins set about cultivating their fledgeling cousins and would continue to do so until Menma told them to stop, the Twilight 'King' opened the door to his home once more and returned to his Clan Home, it was time he moved out of his apartment anyway.

As nice as it was to have time alone to himself he did miss the sensation of returning home each day to the warm sensation of family.

As he was about to enter his thoughts shifted and his movement stilled, perhaps it was better to meet back up with DiZ, sure it was ahead of schedule but it was best to check in, it had been a few days after all.

With a nod Menma redirected the Twilight Passage and entered Twilight Town.

 **Twilight Town Mansion; DiZ's Study**

Menma appeared as the duo of translucent, sunset coloured doors opened before him, he strode into the dusty and underused study cover that housed the old man's laboratory, only to collide with a smaller figure, Menma rubbed his chest as a familiar teen rubbed his sore ass.

"Roxas!" Menma greeted with a grin as he picked the boy up, "How are you doing, pal?"

"Menma! Finally someone who can answer some questions!" Roxas looked to have heavy bags under his eyes and in fact shook slightly in his stance, Menma placed a hand on his shoulder, idly noticing that DiZ's computer lab was covered up by some kind of illusion, he sat Roxas on a nearby chair and knelt before him, placing a hand on the boys knee he listened to his grievances.

Like a patient father Menma was attentive as Roxas spilled his guts, how suddenly everything was just falling apart, he lost his Munny Pouch that his friend Olette had made, his Struggle Trophy bauble that connected him to his friends, how everything slowly started to make even less sense than before, like how balls were being thrown out of a wall at him, how he had to fight a shadowy version of himself in front of a waterfall, how a seemingly omnipotent train appeared and disappeared and how he almost got killed because of it.

Menma's heart went out to the kiddo, it really did. He'd struggled with things before but it appeared that Roxas seemingly had no one to listen to him, whereas Menma had his family, even Roxas' friends seemed obtuse to his struggles.

Menma pat the boy shoulders, "Roxas, I understand what you're going through, a haze of confusion without answers, unfortunately I don't exactly have them. I was charged to look after you, removing Axel from the equation seemed to actually make life a little easier but still… they best I can do is take you to the man who I assisted a little." Menma pulled Roxas to a stand and undid whatever hologram was covering the computer lab, he guided Roxas past the computer and the teleporter into the final room.

Roxas seemed to drift from his guidance and almost automatically pass into the final room, with Sora.

Menma's heart lurched as the young man was told about his fate by DiZ, tears actually welled in his eyes as the boy accepted his fate with a, "Well, it looks like my summer vacation… is over."

"Oh dude fuck you, you can't do this shit to me." Menma said as he furiously whiped away tears, Roxas disappeared into a mess of light particles, he stepped back as the dog-man, the duck and Sora all had their moment together.

Along with a dapper cricket of some kind apparently.

Menma put a stopper on his feelings at the delicate being that was Roxas taken from the world so another boy could live once more, it was life that was expected in one way or another but did they have to tug on his heartstrings so much?

"Excuse me." Menma said stepping forward with his hands crossed behind his back.

Sora, Donald and Goofy were enjoying their reunion when a stranger suddenly spoke up, each of them turned to see a tall dark haired man with purple eyes adorned in a silver and black attire consisting of a cut-off jacket to show off his torso, a black sleeveless turtleneck that clung tightly to his body, baggy jeans with black and white bramble thorns down the centre of each leg, and sneakers that seemingly made no noise.

"Are you the one who trapped us here?" Donald asked suddenly, brandishing his staff.

"Gawrsh Donald, that's a bit quick. We don't even know this feller." Scolded Goofy.

"Yeah besides it was… huh… I can't remember." Sora said as he tapped his chin in thought, though some part of his implicitly knew to trust this stranger, some deep part of him lurched at the sight of him, with joy.

"My name is Uzumaki Menma, no I'm not the one who put you here but I am a friend of the person who woke you up." Menma pointed to Sora, or more importantly Sora's Heart.

On reflex the spike-head placed a hand over his chest.

"I only need you guys to do me a quick favour, you see that friend of mine? He was part of someone you met years ago, and now that part needs to go back." Menma informed, Sora's eyes widened at what sounded like a threat and prepared to defend himself, summoning his Kingdom Key, Menma held up a hand to forestall any hotheadedness.

"Now now, calm down. I'm only asking you come with me, meet up with my friend Aqua and help her wake up Ventus, I promise no harm will come to you."

"Why should we trust you?" Donald demanded skeptically, Menma had to avoid twitching at the annoying voice the duck possessed but pressed on.

Menma summoned Harmony, much to the shock of the other males in the room, "Keybladers have to stick together, yes? Aqua is a Master and whilst I am not too sure about Ventus' ranking he's apparently quite talented, we could all work together to take down any potential threats."

"Whoa…" Sora let out quietly as he looked at the gorgeous Keyblade his apparent peer possessed, the sensation deep inside him pulsed once more and Sora was nothing if not someone who followed his heart.

He relaxed his stance and nodded, "Alright… we'll go with you, but you better be straight with me."

"Some would assume me anything _but_ straight, but I'll endeavour to be so." Menma said with a chuckle, only to get three very confused looks.

"Oh my god this is the best day ever." More innocence to ruin!

 _ **End of Chapter**_

 **Sorry for the wait boys and girls, I was away on holiday and when I got back all I wanted to do was drink and fuck.**

 **I did one of those things.**

 **Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, if you did lemme know. Obviously slight deviations will start to show up on Sora's path, but generally it'll stay the same as this is mostly from Menma's perspective and the immediate people around him.**

 **Anywho, I'm off for now.**

 _ **Raxychaz!**_

Sora awakens at end of chappy


End file.
